The measurement of flight vehicle dynamics such as pitch, yaw, and roll can be obtained using both onboard and earth-based instrumentation. Onboard systems, such as gyroscopic platforms and accelerometers require related transmission systems to communicate to earth-based stations or on-board recorders. These onboard systems are expensive and are usually destroyed with the vehicle after one flight. Ground based measurement systems employ photographic tracking methods or several tracking stations for triangulation measurements.
Laser radars are established in prior art teachings for determining a flight vehicle position or range with automatic laser trackers, related receivers, and retroreflectors. In "Radar Handbook" by M.I. Skolnik, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1970, Chapter 37 discloses laser radars in detail. For example, page 37-62 shows laser tracking interconnected with a computer and tracking mount. In describing motion of a flight vehicle the variables that are involved are related to vehicle position, roll rate, and attitude rates. Prior techniques of measuring these variables have used radar or laser radar and triangulation with three or more ground stations or high speed camera trackers and triangulation from three or more camera stations. When less than three reference stations are used only position information is determined.